Analysis: How a video makes a senseless crime seem far, far worse

Trying to make sense of the stabbing of a teenage girl by a complete stranger inside her school is hard enough.

But add into it the raw, unfiltered and out of context video of Letisha Reimer being killed in the rotunda of her Abbotsford high school on Tuesday, and it becomes impossible to understand.

On Friday, family, friends, schoolmates, community leaders and others struggled to cope with the awful death, and its unnecessarily graphic public description.

At South Abbotsford Church, where Reimer was a member, the church held a memorial service. Media were excluded, and Reimer’s family did not attend.

Youth pastor Mike Olynyk later described the event on Friday as a time “for healing, for restoration and to remember.”

“People came with heavy hearts and as we processed, as we looked to the life of Letisha, that amazing girl, full of vibrant spirit, it left us in a place where the hope that Letisha had, the joy that Letisha had in Jesus, was in that place. … People walked out of there, I believe, with hope and joy.”

The words provide comfort after the terrible event, made all the harder by the viral video of her death.

Of course, there have been other images depicting violence that have left us shocked, stunned, numbed.

But Reimer’s death is an act of violence that crosses so many barriers. It strikes at every parent’s inherent fear for the safety of their children. It involves, apparently, a stranger with no connection to the victim. It takes place inside a very public building, a school that is a surrogate for parenthood. It involves, again apparently, someone with mental health issues who was homeless. And, of course, the victim was young and innocent and utterly helpless.

All of these are factors that play at our fears and prejudices. A video adds an incalculable weight that amplifies the tragedy. We inherently don’t accept or like violence, but somehow the imagery brings it home with far deeper consequences.

This kind of violence is statistically rare. Police will tell you it is more likely to strike at home, in domestic situations. The abuser or murderer is more often someone you know or live with. Stranger abductions of children are rare; murders of children by strangers even rarer.

How rare? It is difficult to find statistics on the randomness of child murders by strangers. But earlier this year the Canadian Centre for Child Protection published the preliminary findings of a study into co-related issue of child abductions and murders. It looked at 155 murders of children 16 and younger between 1970 and 2010 who were abducted before being killed. Of those, 46 were from British Columbia.

“While cases of abducted, then murdered, children are extremely rare, the impacts of such events on communities and the general public are significant. The apparent randomness and heinous nature of such crimes creates an atmosphere of fear and vulnerability, undermining the public’s sense of security,” the centre said on its website.

The report doesn’t identify the victims, but nine of Clifford Olson’s 11 victims were in that age group. Olson, who died in 2011, was Canada’s most prolific serial child killer, eclipsed in sheer murder numbers only by Robert Pickton, another B.C. serial killer, who killed 26 women.

It is Olson’s legacy that shocked many parents into driving their children to school and jolted schools into taking student safety more seriously. As parents we’ve all seen the signs saying “Visitors report to school office,” but nowadays children at the youngest age are taught to beware of strangers.

Today, the streets around schools are clogged with parents’ cars at 3 p.m. The days of walking to and from school for many children have ended.

The fact that Reimer’s accused killer was homeless and may have been staying in a shelter also plays to unfounded fears that such people inherently present a danger. Already there have been statements on the Internet by people suggesting the local homeless shelter be burned down.

But the reality is that most people on the street are there because of economic circumstance, addiction, mental health, or all three. There has been an increase in the number suffering mental health issues, and a lack of money and facilities to care for them. Before she retired in 2013, Judy Graves, the City of Vancouver homeless advocate, came to know many of those on her streets. Most were just trying to get by, trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and drugs, she said. Few, if any, were dangerous.

It is the video of Reimer’s brutal death that has brought into stark relief the worst public fears. And it has magnified the impact.

Think for a moment about former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice’s assault on his then-girlfriend (and later wife) Janay Palmer in a casino elevator. He was charged and the National Football League suspended him for two games. But when the video of him dragging his unconscious girlfriend out of the elevator made the rounds on the Internet, the effect was amplified. He has never played football again, cut from his team and unsigned by others.

Animal cruelty has been around as long as man has held sway over beast. Stories about dogs and cats and horses left to starve incite our anger like little else can. Yet when Desmond Hague, the CEO of Centreplate, was videotaped kicking and choking a friend’s dog in a Vancouver elevator, the reaction was again amplified. Not only did he suffer major public humiliation but he also lost his job.

So is publishing the graphic video of Reimer’s death then serving a greater good?

Apparently not according to most media outlets, including Postmedia, which refused to do so. And the public seemed to agree. A video of Vancouver Sun and Province editor-in-chief Harold Munro explaining why we chose not to share the video went viral.

“It does nothing to enhance our knowledge of what happened,” said Danielle Law, an assistant professor of youth and children’s studies and psychology at Laurier University.

Law said the instant gratuitousness of the Internet has helped to tear down so many societal norms and to give a soapbox to anyone with a stream of consciousness.

Moreover, Law says, today’s young generation doesn’t think twice about hitting the “upload” button. It is their way of communicating. See it, hear it or eat it, it should be posted to their Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter accounts.

“People will post that they have bought toilet paper. We don’t need to know that,” she said.

Out of this dark and tragic affair, youth pastor Olynyk tried to shine a light on Reimer’s impact on people, even the homeless that she had helped as a member of the church’s student leadership team.

“She was such a vibrant personality in our groups. I loved the way she would walk into a room and her energy and vibrancy would bring people to that same energy. It was just so cool to see Letisha serve,” Olynyk said, his voice faltering and tears springing to his eyes. “She was truly a beautiful girl and we love her.”

Olynyk said that there was a youth retreat the weekend before Reimer died. “It was such a phenomenal time and I’m glad the students had that time with Letisha.”

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